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To strain or move out of a straight line; to crook by straining; to make crooked; to curve; to make ready for use by drawing into a curve; as, to bend a bow; to bend the knee.

Changed by pressure so as to be no longer straight; crooked; as, a bent pin; a bent lever.

To cause to deviate from straightness; to bend; to inflect; to make crooked or curved. We bow things the contrary way, to make them come to their natural straightness. Milton. The whole nation bowed their necks to the worst kind of tyranny. Prescott.

Having crooked legs, esp. with the knees bent outward. Johnson.

A crooked leg. Jer. Taylor.

A shot, crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as a support.

ake a loud confused noise, as the water of a rapid stream running over stones. Where the brook brawls along the painful road. Wordsworth.

Same as Brun, a brook. [Scot.]

Stiff; precise. "Buckram dames." Brooke.

Having a bunch on the back; crooked. "Bunch-backed toad." Shak.

A small brook. [Scot.] Burns.

e path; an obscure way; indirect means. God known, my son, By what bypaths, and indirect crooked ways, I met this crown. Shak.

Crooked. [Obs.]

A plant having long hard, crooked roots, the Ononis spinosa; -- called also rest-harrow. The Scandix Pecten-Veneris is also called cammock.

Flat; depressed; crooked; -- said only of the nose. [Obs.]

Covered or incrusted with that which resembles sugar or candy. Will the cold brook, Candiedwith ice, caudle thy morning tast Shak.

A fall of water over a precipice, as in a river or brook; a waterfall less than a cataract. The silver brook . . . pours the white cascade. Longjellow. Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cascade. Cawper.

A piece, made to represent a castle, used in the game of chess; a rook. Castle in the air, a visionary project; a baseless scheme; an air castle; -- sometimes called a castle in Spain (F. Château en Espagne).

To cry like a crow, rook, or raven. Rising and cawing at the gun's report. Shak.

almon, inhabiting deep lakes in mountainous regions in Europe. In the United States, the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is sometimes called a char.